Growth: Support for a 'Yes' vote in the Scottish referendum has risen by four percentage points in the past month, despite fears that Alex Salmond's policy on currency is 'unconvincing'

Support for a 'Yes' vote in the forthcoming Scottish referendum has risen by four percentage points in the past month, despite fears that Alex Salmond's policy on currency is 'unconvincing'.

The Scottish National Party leader favours a formal currency union with the rest of the UK, but has failed to tell voters what would happen if Westminster refuses to allow an independent Scotland to keep the pound.

However, new opinion polls published one month before voters in Scotland cast their vote on September 18 have shown that support for independence is growing.

With just weeks to go until the referendum, both polls showed that a majority of decided voters want Scotland to stay within the UK alongside England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

But there is an increasing amount of support for the Yes campaign, and the still-undecided voters hold the balance.

A poll for the Scotland on Sunday
newspaper put support for UK membership at 47 percent, up 2 points;
support for independence at 38 percent, up 4 points; and undecided
voters at 15 percent.

'Yes is continuing to gain ground and success on 18 September is within Scotland’s reach,' Blair Jenkins, chief executive of Yes Scotland told Scotland on Sunday.

'The
poll also shows that among those who were undecided last month and have
now made up their minds, they have come to Yes by a margin of two to
one.'

Mr Salmond has faced criticism over his plans to keep the pound and during his televised debate with Alistair Darling, the leader of the pro-UK Better Together campaign, failed to answer questions on what his 'Plan B' for the country's currency would be.

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The
First Minister has said dropping the pound 'implies settling for what's
second best' - and insists there will be a deal on a currency
union with the rest of the UK.

He has also reiterated his threat to refuse to pay Scotland's
share of the national debt if he is barred from using the pound.

The UK Government and the main Westminster parties have already ruled out Scotland being allowed to continue to use the Bank of England as its
central bank.

Alternatives to a currency agreement would be a separate Scottish
currency – either pegged to the pound or with a flexible exchange rate -
joining the euro, or using the pound unilaterally in the way that East
Timor and Panama use the U.S. dollar.

Questions: Salmond has faced criticism for plans to keep the pound and during his televised debate with Alistair Darling, the leader of the pro-UK Better Together campaign, failed to answer questions on what his 'Plan B' for the currency would be

In the Scotland on Sunday poll, more than half of the 1,005 adults questioned (52 per cent) said they thought the Scottish Government's currency plans were 'unconvincing', while a further 22 per cent said they were undecided.

And just 19 per cent of those quizzed said they believed Mr Salmond had won the debate held earlier this month, with 42 per cent saying Mr Darling had emerged the victor.

'With just two weeks to go until up to a
million people cast their referendum vote by post, people are realising
that Alex Salmond and the SNP cannot even answer basic questions like
what currency we would use if we walked away from the UK,' said a Better Together spokesman.

Another
survey commissioned by the pro-independence campaign found 46 percent
support for the UK, 42 percent for independence, and 12 percent
undecided.

Both polls had error margins of three percentage points.

After the long-running referendum
campaign, Scots will finally go to the polls next month to answer
the question, 'Should Scotland be an independent country?'

Uncertainty: Labour MP Jim Murphy highlights Mr Salmond's unwillingness to give details of what could happen if Scotland is unable to keep the pound with this Better Together poster

The
Yes campaign, led primarily by the Scottish National Party, believes the
nation would be strengthened by independence, but the UK government is
opposed to the breakaway.

Turnout in the historic ballot is
widely expected to be high and it has been suggested by Mr Salmond that as many of 80 per
cent of those registered to vote will choose to do so.

Pope Francis, Hillary Clinton, Chinese premier Li Keqiang and more than 200 public figures from the arts and media, including Mick Jagger and Eddie Izzard, have also previously made comments widely seen in support of the Better Together campaign, while earlier this year, Barack Obama said he wanted to see the UK remain 'strong, robust and united' during a joint news conference with David Cameron at the G7 in Brussels.

Yes campaigners claimed Mr Cameron was involved and said it showed the 'growing desperation' of the pro-Union campaign.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling also donated £1million to the Better Together campaign against independence, while earlier this month, more than 200 public figures from sport, cinema, television and literature wrote an open letter to the people of Scotland in advance of next month’s referendum which says: 'Let’s stay together'.

Among those who signed the letter were Sir Mick Jagger, Dame Judi Dench and Stephen Hawking.

Meanwhile, those who have come out in favour of separating as a new country include Sir Sean Connery, comedians Kevin Bridges and Russell Brand and actor Brian Cox.